Avon Police Investigating Reported Sexual Assault Of Runner

Woman reported being sexually assaulted while running on the Avon Rails to Trails Thursday afternoon

AVON –– Police are investigating a report by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted Thursday afternoon while running on the Rails-to-Trails path near Scoville Road.

Police said a woman in her early 30s reported that she was running in the area about 12:09 p.m. when a man came up behind her, grabbed her, pulled her off the path and sexually assaulted her.

The woman described the man as white, about 5-feet, 6-inches tall, with a goatee, sunglasses, wearing a black shirt with a reflective vest over the shirt and a baseball cap.

Police said Thursday that they have increased patrols in the area of the incident and along the Rails-to-Trails path.

Police Chief Mark Rinaldo said the department could not release any further information about the incident Thursday night. He said the investigation was active and that police would provide additional information on Friday. A press conference is planned for 10:30 a.m. at the Rails-to-Trails entrance on Scoville Road.

Bruce Donald, who is president of the Farmington Valley Rails Council, said that despite this incident the trails are safe. The council is a nonprofit organization that works with the towns in the Farmington Valley to promote and maintain the trails.

"I still think the trails are really genuinely safe," Donald said. He could not recall anything similar happening on the trails in the 10 years he's been with the council.

"Since there are so many people on the trail this kind of thing is extremely rare because normally it would be seen by someone," Donald said.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Avon police's detective unit at 860-409-4230.